Parental Piety
by Claude Lawless
Summary: After stopping to help an airspeeder stranded on the side of the highway, Hera makes an interesting discovery.


_Originally posted on tumblr, inspired by a post made by whereisskywalker._

* * *

Hera didn't like the Empire, but she liked riding down their highways. One long, straight line where you could go as fast as you wanted – provided you didn't get caught by one of the patrolling traffic droids. But they were easy to avoid, for the most part. She was free to daydream, free to relax, free to let the wind blow across her _lekku_ …

…free to blow the doors off an uppity loth-rat who thinks he can beat her in a speeder bike race.

Ezra cursed in surprise as she zipped past him, spinning the bike around and throwing it into reverse so that she was driving backwards. "You're gonna have to try harder than that," she called out.

"How are you even doing that?!" he shouted back.

"Call it a draw and I'll show you."

"Not on your life!" He gunned the engine and passed her.

She rolled her eyes, grinning. This has been going on for at least an hour now. She'd let him pull ahead and, just when he thought he had a lead on her, she would do some trick and come up from behind. Time to repeat the process.

As she turned to bring the bike around, a plume of smoke on the other side of the highway caught her attention. She brought the bike to a stop and lifted her goggles to get a better look. After a moment, Ezra slowed as well. He backed up and parked beside her.

"Looks like a fire," he said.

She shook her head. "If it was a fire, the smoke would be black," she said. "Looks like a steam leak of some sort."

"Should we check it out?"

"I'll take care of it," she said. "Turn your comlink on and stay with the bikes. Keep your head down and let me know if you see anyone coming."

"How can I keep low and keep lookout at the same time?" he asked wryly. She raised her brow at him, and he sighed. "Got it."

Pulling the bike to the side, Hera hopped the railing and crossed the median. As much as she hoped that it wasn't a crashed transport driver, she wasn't about to leave someone stranded on the side of the highway, Imperial or otherwise.

Fortunately, it wasn't anything of the sort. A teal airspeeder hovered in the breakdown lane, emergency lights flashing as light gray smoke leaked from the open hood. Standing _contrapposto_ in front of it was the lanky figure of a young Human, his head cocked to the side and his arms crossed. A small fair-haired girl stood on the speeder's steering yoke, peeking over the windscreen into the engine. Their voices had Core World tinted accents to them. Possibly Corusanti, but they weren't strong enough for her to identify the exact planet.

The girl spoke with a sharp lisp. "Daddy's gonna kill you," she said in a sing-song voice.

The boy huffed. "You don't think I don't know that?" he grumbled.

"Then why're you trying to fix it?"

"Damage control." He leaned over to get a better look at something. "Maybe he'll make it quick instead of throwing me out an airlock or something."

The girl giggled and looked up at Hera as she approached. She waved. "Hi!"

Hera couldn't help but smile. "Hello there," she said. "You two need help?"

The boy gasped and turned around. Seeing her, his swarthy features twisted into a grimace. "No, we're fine," he said quickly.

"Khonthu broke the speeder he rented," the girl said. "Now Daddy's gonna kill him when he gets here because he already got license rebroked."

He rolled his eyes. "That's _revoked_ ," he said, "and I didn't break it, it just…kinda stopped working…" He avoided her gaze and shuffled his feet.

Hera rolled her eyes and smiled. Core, Outer Rim… teenage boys would always be teenage boys. "Let me take a look," she said.

The boy hopped out of the way, letting her approach the speeder. She scanned the engine. The capacitor was close to shorting out, just as she thought. Without that, the forward repulsors wouldn't work. It would still hover, but it wouldn't be going anywhere under its own power. But the scratches and epoxy residue on the side of the circuitry showed that it wasn't his fault for speeding. Someone had tampered with the readout.

The girl continued peeking over the edge. Big, light brown eyes dominated her face, framed by wavy blonde locks. "My name's Anuket," she said. "What's yours?"

"Hera," she said. She looked up at the girl and smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you. And you're Khonthu?"

"Khonsu," he said. "She lost her front tooth a few days ago."

"Uh-huh!" She opened her mouth and poked at another tooth with her finger, taking her hand off the windscreen. "And this one's lose. Mama said it'll come out soon."

Hera frowned as she tottered unsteadily. "You really shouldn't be standing on the yoke like that," she said gently.

Anuket huffed. "I'm six and a half, Miss Hera," she said stubbornly. "I'll be fine."

Hera chuckled, but Khonsu was unamused. "Don't try talking sense to her," he said. "The only people she'll listen to are Mom and her dad."

" _Her_ dad?"

Khonsu shuffled his feet again. "She's my half-sister," he said quietly. "My father died when I was four. Mom remarried and then she happened."

"I see," she said. "I'm sorry."

"S'alright. My bio-dad was never around anyways." He kicked at the ground. "Not like my step-dad is either, always getting assigned places halfway across the galaxy, but at least he doesn't hit me."

Hera nodded solemnly. She could relate to a parent never being around. "Well, the good news is that it isn't your fault the capacitor is overclocked. Whomever you got this from altered the parameters so that the dial would read that your speed was slower than it really was. If you let it sit for a while and let it cool, it should start working again," she said. "The bad news is that you'll still be in trouble with your stepfather, seeing as your license was revoked."

His face turned red. "It-It wasn't my fault!" he sputtered.

"Yeah it was!" Anuket giggled. "You hit a lightpole."

"'Cause I swerved to avoid some idiot going the wrong way!"

Hera smiled and shook her head as they went back and forth. She was about to interrupt when her comlink beeped. _"Hera, get out of there!"_ Ezra shouted.

Unclipping it from her belt, she took a step to the side and turned her back to the kids. "What's going on?" she asked. A speeder was rapidly approaching, coming from the city end of the highway.

 _"You are not gonna believe who just drove by,"_ he said flatly.

"Oh yeah? Try me," she said.

 _"Here's a hint: the buckethead who's been making our lives miserable for the past few months."_

She frowned. "Agent Kallus? Does he know we're here?"

 _"I don't think so,"_ he said. _"He's in a regular speeder and he didn't bring any of his 'friends.' I don't know why he's out here."_

The speeder drew closer. Anuket and Khonsu…they couldn't be, could they…?

She whirled around to run back to the bikes, only to see Anuket slip off the steering yoke as the second speeder zipped past. She shrieked as she fell, hitting the ground face first with a sharp crack. Khonsu gasped and moved towards her, but Hera was closer.

In a split-second decision, she ran towards the injured girl.

Anuket was beginning to whimper when Hera reached her side. As gingerly as possible, she helped her to an upright position. Dirt covered her face, and raw pink skin showed through the scrape on her forehead. It wasn't deep enough to bleed, but it was just big enough to hurt, especially on a girl as small as her. A bruise was already forming around it.

"Are you alright?" Hera asked softly. The girl didn't answer, her cheeks puffed out and eyes brimming with tears. She reached out for the girl, to touch her face reassuringly.

A hand shoved her to the side, away from the girl. She didn't hit the ground hard as hard as Anuket, but her shoulder crushed the tip of her left lekku against the pavement and she hissed in pain. "Hey–"

Her jaw snapped shut. Agent Kallus had taken her place on his knees in front of the girl, gently brushing dirt and dust from her face and out of her hair. His usual sour expression was replaced by a deep, almost panicked concern, the kind only seen on a father tending to his child.

"I'm here," he said gently, "I'm here. Did you fall?"

"U…Uh-huh," Anuket hiccuped.

Lifting her up, he sat her on the edge of the speeder. He slid his fingers under her chin and tipped it up and down as he examined her face. "It looks like it's only a scratch. Does it hurt?"

She bobbed her head rapidly. "Uh-huh."

He pressed his lips against the cut with an exaggerated _mwah_. "How about now?"

She smiled reluctantly. "Better."

He returned the smile, tender and warm. "There's my big girl." With some effort, he scooped her into his arms. "Stars, you're getting heavy…"

As she stood up, Hera couldn't help but stare. Sure, people were multifaceted, but seeing the man who had ordered the slaughter of billions of people being so gentle with his child was something that would throw anyone for a loop.

The sour expression returned as Kallus turned to Khonsu, who appeared to be trying to shrink into his jacket. " _You_ have some explaining to do," he said. "I thought I told you to wait at the spaceport."

Khonsu started babbling. "I-I know! But I got tired of waiting and there was a guy renting speeders and I thought I'd save you fuel…"

"And then you ended up on the side of the highway." He sighed and tossed his head towards the speeder he had arrived in, parked a few meters ahead of them. "Take your sister and get in. I'll deal with you after."

"Yes sir." Head hanging, Khonsu took Anuket and slunk away.

Hera cut in. "It's not his fault," she said. "The capacitor's been tampered with."

He turned to her, surprised. "Are you sure?" he asked.

She nodded. "Absolutely. If he brings it back to the renter, he can get his money back."

"I see," he said. "Thank you. He'll be sure to do that."

"Thank you, Miss Hera!" Anuket shouted as Khonsu buckled her in.

"You're welcome!" she called back. Seeing the small smile on Kallus's face, she grinned. "Your daughter's a very sweet girl."

"She takes after her mother," he said. He stood up straighter and gave a little bow. "Thank you for stopping to help them," he said. "I would like to say more, but I must be going. His call interrupted a very important meeting."

"Not a problem. Have a good one."

He bowed again and turned away. She fought a smirk as he hopped into the speeder and drove away. If only he knew who he was thanking.

* * *

Kanan blinked several times. "You're kidding."

"Nope." Hera pulled the yoke to the left, gently steering the _Ghost_ around a small shuttle. "The Butcher of Lasan has a little girl that he didn't hesitate to kiss and hold."

He crossed his arms. "Well, I guess that isn't too bizarre, given the whole 'it is your duty to reproduce' thing the propaganda machine likes to spit out."

"That's just it. I don't think she was an obligatory baby. He really seemed to care about her."

"Her, yes," he said, "but what about the boy?"

"Strict. But he's a teenager, you know how they are."

As if to prove her point, a loud crash and a bang sounded from the common area, followed by Ezra's muffled shouting and Chopper's mechanical chortles.

She couldn't help but smile. "…and he already had his license taken away, so I don't blame him for being mad."

Kanan sighed. "I don't see how this affects us."

"Shoot to maim, not to kill," she said firmly.

"Right," he said. He stood up and stretched. "I'll try to keep that in mind when he's ordering squads of stormtroopers to kill us."

She didn't turn as he left the cockpit. He didn't like it, Ezra wouldn't like it, Sabine wouldn't like it… Zeb probably wouldn't talk to her for a month, but she would live with it.

Human or Twi'lek, Imperial or rebel, she wasn't about to let a little girl grow up without her father, regardless of who he was. There were enough broken families in the galaxy. It didn't need another one.

* * *

 _Thank you for reading!_


End file.
